Research Degrees

*Please click here for
the FAQ page for prospective MPhil/PhD IR Students*

The Department provides supervision for students who wish to pursue individual research leading to an MPhil or PhD degree. Applicants are encouraged to define their research interest as precisely as possible and are asked to address the following questions:

1.  What is your general topic?
2.  What questions do you want to answer?
3.  What is the key literature and its limitations?
4.  What are the main hypotheses of the work?
5.  What methodology do you intend to use?
6.  What are your case studies, if any, and what are your case selection criteria?

Normally only those with at least an upper second class honours or the equivalent, as well as an MSc degree or equivalent, who have `majored' in a relevant field will be accepted. Newly-accepted applicants must register at the beginning of either the Michaelmas or (exceptionally) Lent terms. Research students will be registered for the MPhil in the first instance. Transfer is not automatic and is seldom granted until students have completed six terms MPhil registration. To be considered for transfer to the PhD students must normally have submitted to their supervisor and Research Panel (see below) an outline and one chapter (in Summer Term of year one) and two further draft chapters which show evidence of doctoral quality (in the Summer Term of year two).

All research students are required to attend the Research Methods Training Seminar and the International Relations Research Design Workshop in the first year and to attend, throughout their registration, at least one of the Research Workshops offered by the Department. They will be advised on which of the School-wide courses they should attend, by their supervisor and the Departmental Doctoral Programmes Director. At the beginning of each Summer Term first- and second-year research students meet with a Research Panel comprising two members of staff excluding their supervisor. Its purpose is to review progress, to offer guidance to the student and the supervisor from other teachers and to provide students with an opportunity to raise issues relating to their research which they would like to have discussed in a wider forum.  Students in their third or subsequent years of registration may also be asked to attend a Panel if their supervisor thinks this would be helpful. Please see FAQ Qn 4 for new research students.

If you are thinking of applying to the IR research programme, please see our FAQs for prospective MPhil/PhD IR Students. If you have been accepted for the IR research programme, please see our FAQs for new research students.

For further information about the application process for research degrees please go to the Graduate School Prospectus. Online Graduate School Application is also available.

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This page last modified on July 31, 2007

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